The arrival of Tristan had helped my heart, this little bundle of joy who belonged to Una had been a welcome distraction. Me and Dunstan had discussed at length that it would be best if we didn't disclose to the boy his true heritage in case anyone from Stormhold found out about him and try to locate him as Septimus would not be the only one racing for the throne. I kept this last part to myself; I didn't want Dunstan to know the background of how the Royal line works in our land.

Fast forward eighteen years and the little baby Tristan had grown to be on the edge of becoming a man. He had the kindness of his mother and grew up quite a sensible boy. It was an absolute joy to watch him grow but it also scared me too, how had eighteen years pass by? It still felt like only yesterday since I had been thrown to this side of the wall. I started to visit the Wall less, losing hope that Septimus would ever come back for me.

"Bella, something has happened" Dunstan started to say before he had even reached me in the street. I was concerned by the look in his face as I asked, "Is it about Tristan losing his job?"

"I had to tell him about his mother. Albert let it spill that I had been over the wall" Dunstan quickly explained as I cursed Albert and his lack of thought on the matter, but I guess at nearly ninety-seven he should be forgiven.

"How did he take it? Where is he now, do you want me to speak with him?" I asked as I now walked in step with him.

"He has gone" Dustan told me simply as I stopped in my tracks and asked, "Gone where?"

"That's the thing he disappeared in front of me in thin air!" He looked in despair "There was some sort of candle in the letter, he lit it and then he was gone!"

Oh Una, we had never opened the letter because it was between her and Tristan, but I never imagine she would put a babylon candle inside and now poor Tristan was somewhere in Stormhold, in danger.

"Wait a moment, why was Tristan at the Wall to begin with?" I raised my eyebrow, why was the Thorn family such trouble when it came to the Wall.

"He saw a shooting star and had promised it for Victoria" Dunstan explained with a sigh. I rolled my eyes, that girl was insufferable, and I felt my dislike grow that now Tristan would be getting himself in all sorts of trouble because of her. I could only hope that the candle had led him straight to Una. My mind flickered back the star, if it had landed in Stormhold then that would also bring a new host of trouble that I hoped he wouldn't be tangled up with.

"What do we do now? I'm not sure if I should go through the Wall to find him" Dunstan said, fretting for his son.

"Dunstan, you need to be here for when he comes back, not lost over there" I replied "We can only hope he has found Una and is safe with her."

Dunstan nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but feel as though something was brewing, it felt like dread. What if all this was related somehow? I might be so close to seeing Septimus again, but would he still want me almost twenty years later? Had he meant his promise as much as I kept mine? Was a man sooner to forget than a woman?

Once I had told Albert that despite his best efforts, Tristan had still made it to the other side of the Wall, he had tripled his efforts to keep word of his possible return spending most of his time sitting by the hole in the wall.

It felt like the longest week of our lives, waiting for news as I went to regularly visit the Wall with refreshments and to sit with Albert to keep him company, I felt anxious and couldn't find myself sleeping as I felt like something big was occurring in Stormhold.

One misty morning, I was awake early and getting ready to go and meet Albert with his breakfast as I heard him suddenly crash through the door. Alarmed, I rushed to the door to find him mumbling to himself in terror.

"Albert, what's wrong?" I worried as I helped to sit him down.

"All those years guarding that Wall, stopping people from going there and I should have been more worried about your kind over there" he looked at me differently, what did he mean by that?

"I want you to leave" he whispered, and I couldn't help but feel hurt. I had lived with him for twenty years and now he was acting as if he was almost afraid of me?

"Albert, I'll leave. But what did you see?" I questioned, quickly agreeing so we could get to the bottom of his worry.

"I told Tristan, there was witches..." he muttered, looking like he was trembling.

"You saw Tristan?" I gasped, Tristan had returned and now it seems had gone back through the Wall. I needed to leave. I grabbed my cape that I hadn't worn for nearly twenty years and ran to the wall. I wasn't sure what I'd do once I got there but perhaps there would be clues to what Albert had seen and feared so much?

As I approached the Wall, I felt a pain in my chest - perhaps it was the running, but it felt heavy, as though I had lost something or someone. The Wall looked different to me somehow, I couldn't quite explain it but with all my force I threw myself at the hole in the Wall. Much to my surprise, I landed in a clump on the other side. My stomach dropped; I had made it to the other side. What did that mean? Was Septimus now King, would he be coming back for me?

I tried to make sense of the scene before me, an abandoned yellow wagon, a blackened outline of a person on the grass like it was still smoking. And then I noticed several tracks, a carriage of some sorts, two sets of horseshoes. There was something in the wind that breezed past me that smelt of something I hadn't smelt in twenty years, I felt like Septimus had been here and I had clearly missed him. I cursed myself for not staying at the Wall the entire time, had I missed my opportunity? Perhaps he had changed his mind about me?

To my luck, there was a second horse tied to the wagon as I quickly went into action and leaped up upon the horse and followed the tracks. I rode as fast as the horse would take me, which seemed to take a lifetime. I felt bad for the animal, but I needed to make haste. I grew concerned for Tristan; I was hoping that he was safe in all of this.

Coming into the distance, I saw a large crate in the landscape, it looked menacing as the tracks led into it. What was this place? It smelt of evil. I could sense nothing good about this place as I carefully left approached what seemed to be some sort of mansion built into the crate's edge. I felt like I could smell death and it made me shiver.